Virgin Media CFO Resigns

Virgin Media's(VMED Quote) chief financial officer, Jerry Elliott, resigned Tuesday, citing "family health reasons."

Virgin Media's treasurer, Rick Martin, will handle the capital markets portion of the CFO job, while the company's controller, Rober Gale, will oversee financial reporting. Both will take up those posts an interim basis as Virgin Media searches for a full-time CFO, the company said in a press release.

The resignation, effective May 31, comes amid the company's auction of its VMtv cable channels to a group of bidders including Time Warner(TWX Quote) and the U.K.'s BSkyB(BSY Quote), the Times of London reported last week.

Also last week, Richard Branson's Virgin Group cut back its stake in Virgin Media to 6.5% from 10.5%, to satisfy the terms of a so-called "collar loan" from Credit Suisse(CS Quote). Essentially, Virgin Group transferred the shares to the Swiss bank in return for $224 million in cash, part of which Branson used to help found Virgin America, his U.S. air carrier. "We remain very committed to the company," Virgin Group said in a statement.

In its first quarter, the London cable and cellular company lost about $219 million, which included a large loss on derivatives. Results missed analysts' expectations.

In New York trading Tuesday, Virgin Media shares were changing hands at $7.33, down 20 cents. The stock has gained more than 50% year to date.